How do we respond by faith to the curse of death? This is an important question for us not only because we all have to deal with the inevitability of death, but because the Christian posture toward death is one of the things that separates us from the rest of the world.
We are all going to die. There’s a newsflash, right? Some of us are more acutely aware of this reality than others, either because of our age or because of our circumstances. But the inevitability of death does not wax and wane based on your awareness of it. You could even say not only are we all going to die, but we are in the process of dying. You are closer to your death right now than you were when you woke up this morning. We get little reminders of this every day.
I remember a couple of years ago Jana and I were at the park with some families from our church. All the kids were running around, and several ladies were standing there talking. They spoke about topics parents with young kids talk about – discipline, school, that kind of stuff. Jana noticed she had the ear of these women. And that’s when it hit her – we’re not the young ones any more. We used to be the young ones, but not any more – now we’re getting older.
See? Death.
A few months ago I went for an annual physical because I like to hear how terrible I am, and the doctor used this phrase for the first time: “A man of your age…” I had to blink twice at that.
Death!
This is the curse we are under. We are in a constant and increasing state of decay. And as we move further and further along, those groans become more and more audible. That’s our reality. The question, then, is how do we respond knowing this about ourselves? Or to reframe the question in light of the gospel:
How do we respond by faith to the curse of death?
This is an important question for us not only because we all have to deal with the inevitability of death, but because the Christian posture toward death is one of the things that separates us from the rest of the world.
